


Still Waters

by Rassilon_writes



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Origins
Genre: Circle of Magi, Gen, Kinloch Hold, Mages (Dragon Age), Mages and Templars, Original Character(s), Pre-Dragon Age: Origins, Rite of Tranquility
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-03
Updated: 2018-12-03
Packaged: 2019-09-06 06:36:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 964
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16827142
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rassilon_writes/pseuds/Rassilon_writes
Summary: Condemned to Tranquility, a young mage faces her final moments before everything she is is lost. Written for #Dragon4geDay





	Still Waters

No way out. Too many of them, crushing my magic and closing in. Only one door, too far to run. They'd get me before I was even half way there. No point. Think, think, there's always a way. 

I feel the magic, trapped under my skin, raging to be free. It wants to help me, save us from this nightmare. To hurl this bunch of miserable, pox-ridden, treacherous Templars across the room, cast them into the air and bring them crashing to the ground. See how they like their shiny armour then, as it turns from protection to prison. 

It's too quiet. They'd seemed so driven, so full of purpose, when they'd dragged me from my bed and into the courtyard. Not so certain now. Why aren't they doing something? 

One of the younger ones, unable to contain his confusion, breaks the silence. “Knight-Captain, what do we do?” 

The panicked words fall into dead air. No one moves, I'm not sure any of them even dare breathe. Why is he whispering? I'm powerless, what does it matter what I hear?

The Knight-Captain looks puzzled. Not a look you see on his face often – stern, severe, those were more like him. Even as I look at him, it's turning into something like disappointment. 

“We are waiting to see what you will do. By now, the mage has usually tried to call forth a demon to defend themselves. You have not. We are now in...unprecedented circumstances.”

Unprecedented. Yes, that would be one word for it. 

“No matter, it does not change what must happen here. We discovered and destroyed three maleficarum in the Circle. To stop this contamination spreading, the Knight-Commander has ordered that all who shared living quarters with them must be made Tranquil.”

Maleficarum. Contamination. Tranquil. Started out bad and just kept getting worse. This can't be real. The worst of all possible fates, for what? For sharing a room with people they ordered me to share a room with? Mistake. Must be. This is not supposed to happen.

“So far, your fellow mages have chosen death over Tranquility. You appear to be the only sensible one among them.”

If I were sensible, I would have run back to my family the moment Meredith took over command. The new Knight-Commander's certainty that magic is a curse has brought nothing but trouble. When she looks at a mage, all she sees is a future problem to be dealt with. It probably looks wonderful from Hightown, order and discipline, cruel to be kind, harsh but fair. 

They have regained their purpose now. Closing in, tightening the circle. Think. Do something. Can't lose my wits, not at the end. Keep him talking, delay, delay, delay. Perhaps I might get lucky. Andraste might pop in, deliver me from this injustice and smite them all with her righteous wrath. It could happen. It won't, but it could. 

My guts are writhing with panic, but my voice is calm. Years in the circle have given me this, at least. Conceal your emotions, hide your secrets, don't let them see when they get to you.

“My family will not stand for this. I passed my Harrowing, you cannot force this on me. They will petition the Viscount, the Order will be held to account.” 

He's back to puzzled now. A small victory but worth savouring, given the circumstances. 

“Would they risk so much, for a daughter already lost to them? The balance of power has tipped in Kirkwall, everyone must find their place in the new order. It is not in your family's interests to remind the city that there is magic in their line. In different times, perhaps. But it's barely a year since we got rid of the last viscount, and Dumar remembers it well. He cannot touch us, and your family has their position to think of. They will grieve, then accept, then forget. It's easier that way.”

“Then why not just kill me and have done with it?”

He seemed shocked. Score another point, not that it matters. “You have done nothing to deserve it. Tranquility is not death, despite what some would have you believe. It is rebirth to another purpose.”

Easy for him to say. Two of them grab my arms, and it feels like tightening chains.

This is happening. I'm about to be snuffed out of existence, to become a walking doorstop. I will fetch and carry and serve as a warning of what happens to bad little mages who don't behave. Not that I ever took the chance to misbehave. Typical. Don't think about that. Cling to everything that makes me who I am. Hope something of me remains. 

I feel the brand before it touches me. It's a weight, pushing down on everything I am. A white-hot wall around my mind, crushing me smaller and smaller until I won't be there at all. I want to resist, but I will shatter under the pressure. Don't fight, don't even think of it. That's not important. Remember who I am. 

The scent of lilacs, Mother's smile, the feeling of magic turned to a purpose. The day my sister was born, so tiny and so loud, her crinkly little face. Hold on, don't let it go. A cat purring on my lap, my brother's laugh, the first time I climbed the oak tree without falling. Walking with Grandfather through the city, overwhelmed by the smell of spices and clamour of people, but safe by his side. Dreams of finding out what's on the other side of the sea. This is me, and it will always be me. I am real. It can't be the end. I won't let it be the end. 

"I will find myself again...I will come back.....I will......I....."


End file.
